Discovery!

On the recent road trip that i went on, I made an amazing discovery! Its the Lonely Planet book. It has all kinds of information one needs when traveling to the unknown.
Its got everything from to places to see, restaurant listings, hotels and lodges listing with the telephone numbers. It also has these little tips about the best time to visit a particular place, what to look out for, what to give a miss etc.
My next visit to a bookstore i am definitely picking up a copy.
Yay to The Lonely Planet!

Celebrating one year of wedded bliss :)

This post is over due by a couple of days. We were out celebrating our one year wedding anniversary. We did what both of us like doing best, lazing around in a quiet place. We spent a day at a homestay in Wayanad. Taking long naps, followed by sumptuous Kerala food was the order of the day. :) The walk amidst coffee plantations was sheer bliss. The only sounds we could hear were the birds chirping and the bees buzzing around. It was the perfect holiday.

Thanks so much sweetheart! :)

Valley Of Flowers : Part III

I finally got down to finishing the last part of the trilogy that i had planned on writing. This post you could say is the Grand Finale. This is were i talk about the very reason why we planned the trek : to visit the Valley of Flowers.

All of us were pretty excited about this part of the trek. The previous day,we atched a documentary on the valley of flowers. An Indian researcher (i forget his name) has put together a documentary which captures the diverse ecology of the alpine valley. He visits the valley every year from June to October (or thereabouts) in the hope of learning more each passing year.

We were in awe of both his documentary and his passion for researching the valley. We couldn't wait to be there amidst the flowers ourselves.

The trek started early in the morning. The weather was picture perfect.Just the right amount of chill combined with mild sunshine.There was a spring in our steps as we started the trek. Maybe it was the silence around us added to the heightening sense of excitement. Unlike, Hemkund, there are no pilgrims here, just the hikers. There is no grazing allowed or human settlement. No mules and dhabas dotting the path. It was just us and Mother Nature.

After a short walk, we started seeing flora and fauna typical to this ecology. Each of us stopped every few feet to admire nature's beauty. Flowers of every concievable color and leaves with intricate patterns and the early morning dew on the gossamer spider webs was breath-taking. I was amazed at how beautiful the whole setting was. To add to this we came across a brook making its way down to the valley. Crossing that rickety,makeshift bridge was quite an experience!

It every photographer's dream come true to be surrounded by pristine beauty and for K it was not any different. He had to capture it all in his camera. He would stop every few meters to capture nature's glory. I let him be and walked alone. I just didn't feel like making conversation with anyone else in the group. I was content enjoying the solitude in this picturesque setting.
As i walked along i realized this kind of beauty is to be enjoyed and cherished in the company of a loved one and decided to wait for K after all ;)

We went walking along and taking pics and came across this glacier. There was huge crack right down to the middle of the glacier threatening to split and come crashing down any minute.
The glacier on the way to the valley. Notice the crack in the middle?


I simply cannot describe in words the rest of the walk. All i have to do is close my eyes to be transported back to that serene place. I will instead share some pics of the place.


Some fruit which grows there. An amazing hue of blue!

The valley is itself huge. Flowers of one kind grow in patches. Cross-pollination has led to the same variety of flowers growing in different hues.Thats what lend the color to the valley.It feels like the valley is one never ending stretch.

After a short walk, we came across yet another brook meandering in the midst of the valley.
This is where we settled down for lunch. It was the best picnic i have ever had. While the rest of the gang wanted to further into the valley and also visit the grave of Margaret Legge , a botanist who died in the valley on her quest for more information on the flowers.
The brook where we had our picnic lunch

Few of us chose to sit by the brook and take in the scenery. L and M, decided to meditate there. It was the ultimate place for them for meditation. K and I sat there savoring the beauty of the valley in quiet companionship. While another couple S and D decide to take a small nap :D

More pictures on the valley of flowers.

Sky through the flowers



Panoramic view of the valley of flowers.

Its easily the most beautiful place on earth!

P.S : All pictures are taken by K. More of his pics here

Valley Of Flowers, Part I - Delhi

Back in college , (boy! that makes me feel old, although i assure you,that was just 4 years back), when there was a mail thread from the gang on what each one of us wanted to do in our lifetime, i too had my own list of things..... what i didn't know then that the top most on the list would come true. Going to the Himalayas once in my lifetime.

K and i being avid travelers, decided to trek to the valley of flowers in Uttaranchal. July and August are the only two months when the flowers are in full bloom through out the valley. The treks are more or less organized around this time of the year.
I was very excited about the trek and apprehensive at the same time as i had never been on a hiking trip ever!
its one thing to walk a few kilometers to the waterfalls or the nearby stream while you are on a vacation but quite another matter when you have to be walking in rugged terrain with a heavily laden back-pack for hours together.
One thing that held me back from going on these hikes or treks is the phobia for answering nature's call ...err...amidst nature...you never know what's lurking out there :P
I was relieved when i heard we would be put up in rooms there rather than pitching tents.i knew things would be alright. :) My experience of trekking being zilch,K was very encouraging and said that it wouldn't be as difficult as i thought. Easy for him, as he has scaled almost all the peaks in Karnataka and done two Himalayan treks.

In spite of having these self-doubts there was not a single time i thought of any kind of preparation for the impending trip.Another couple, Y and K who were to join us on the trek would take one day trips for practice during the weekends.

About a month before the trek i began to panic as i had no idea about my ability to sustain the trek or my stamina levels. We decide to put these to test and set out on a weekend trek to Satyamangala forests in Chamarajanagar,Mysore. Although i couldn't keep pace with the rest of the gang , i completed this trek successfully.... This boosted my confidence levels and i was all set for the Big one!

The day dawned bright and sunny...sounds too cliched isnt it? well, i wish it was like that...instead K and I were slogging on our laptops till about an hour we were to leave for the airport.

Anyway, off we went to the airport and on the way i get a call from a cousin saying that there were serial blasts happening everywhere in Bangalore and she asked me to be careful as i was headed to the airport. It was quite a shock to hear that the blasts were happening quite close to my work-place. I immediately called up colleagues at work not knowing what the intensity of the blasts were. I was relieved to know everyone was safe and much more when i heard they were all low intensity ones. I was still in a state of shock as to how someone could do this to my beloved Bangalore... such things only happen in other cities and you get to see these things on the television!

After an uneventful flight ,we landed in Delhi at around 9:30 pm and immediately set out for the Silk Board guest house near IIT. I had conjured up visions of homely comfort when Y had booked the guest house. Alas, that was not the case to be.On being show into our rooms, my heart sank.The paint was peeling, the furniture looked old and dusty. The bathroom was dingier. We had no intention of hanging out in the guest house except to sleep in the night so we decided to stay put.

The first day in Delhi was spent indulging in one of my favorite activities - shopping!This was mainly because both K and i had visited the usual tourists places in Delhi before,so we decided to skip them.

We still had two days before we would set off to Haridwar where our trek would start. The next day we headed to nearby Mathura and Agra. Here are some pics!

A pic of the Agra Fort. I must say the fort has been very accuratley re-created for the movie Jodha-Akbar.















The famous monument of love, Taj Mahal. We did what most tourists do when visiting the Taj.
Get a pic of the two of us sitting on the stone bench in front of the Taj :D

The last day in Delhi before we took off on the trek, we didnot have anything planned as we had a train to catch to Haridwar in the evening .So decided to watch a movie.The nearest mall had "Singh is Kinng" playing.Oh what a mistake it was ! Most parts of the movie had the rest of the crowd in splits and the few genuine jokes didnt get a reaction from them. It only left us wondering about the intelligence of the Delhi audience!